The Missing al Ghul
by Terapsina
Summary: Years ago an infant girl was stolen from Ra's al Ghul. Now that she's been found he's sent his heir, Nyssa, to bring her back. But Skye's new family isn't going to let someone just take her, and Nyssa isn't willing to lose someone she loves just to follow orders.
1. The Missing al Ghul

Disclaimer: Not mine. I wish of course, but no, just playing in the sandboxes.

AN: I had this idea. And then... TUMBLR MADE ME DO IT!

***The Missing al Ghul***

—  
_Tibet (Nanda Parbat_)  
—

"Find her. Bring her to me."

Nyssa's heart hasn't beat in her ears this loudly since the time that same voice ordered her to return with Ta-er al-Asfer or to put an arrow in her lover's heart. She bows just as she did then and leaves.

But the rushing blood is still all she hears.

—  
_Fifteen minutes later.__  
__Tibet (Nanda Parbat_)  
—

She places the quiver over her shoulder when the air behind her shifts and she feels Sara's eyes on her back.

"You… have a mission."

There is a waver in Sara's voice, and despite the overwhelming thoughts occupying her, Nyssa nearly flinches at it. That silence between syllables was what preceded Sara's flight from the League in the first place, she does not know herself to be strong enough to let her Canary go a second time.

"Not for a death. I must retrieve someone."

"Do you want me there?"

Finally turning around to look at Sara, she considers. She planned to go alone, some tasks are too important to be left in the hands of the incapable. Nothing can bring harm to her… target, and no one can know of who 'she' is until Nyssa has her under father's gaze. But she trusts Sara.

She nods and Sara turns around to presumably go to her rooms and retrieve her own weapons.

_'Sara's rooms.'_ her eyes are drawn to the dresser and the cabinets she knows are empty - she emptied them herself. And she _longs_. Longs for the time lost to her now, when Sara's rooms were her own as well. When they shared everything from their nights to their hearts.

Sara is back. But they are no longer each others. And the pain of that is as fresh now as when she realized she had been left without even a goodbye.

But Nyssa does not have the luxury to indulge in her agony. She buries this like she buries everything and instead focuses on a much older wound. A wound that's more than twenty years old.

—  
_Two days later.__  
__Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility)_  
—

They're staring at each other. Mere inches between them. The atmosphere is fraught with tension and a challenge. But neither is willing to be the one to give in first and so it continues.

Skye can see her opponent's hazel eyes. Under the warm lighting they almost look golden. She'd think them pretty, but she's not letting herself be distracted. There's too much at stake.

Finally minutes later she feels her adversary weakening and unbidden a grin slips onto her lips, it seems to be the right move because the other eyes suddenly slide down.

"Ha, I win."

Skye's grin spreads into something similar to the smile worn by the Cheshire Cat. She quirks her eyebrow at Jemma in victory.

"But I…"

"You looked away first. I win."

Simmons' sudden pout is almost enough to soften her, but Skye won fair and square and so instead she shifts on the couch and dumps her bare foot on Jemma's lap. Then she wriggles her toes in invitation.

Jemma laughs under her puppy dog eyes but moves her hands around Skye's left ankle anyway and starts working the sore muscles she finds there. Skye almost moans under the ministration but manages to choke the sound down just in time. The skin under the touch of Jemma's fingertips tingles with heat. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

But _'oh'_ it's such a sweet sort of torture.

She closes her eyes and lets the pleasant sensation drench her senses. Against her will she slips into sleep, and after some time only awakes enough to feel someone sliding a blanket over her and the feel of a hand running over Skye's face in comfort.

Her dreams are hazel.

—  
_A few hours later.__  
__Mojave Desert (outside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility)_  
—

"The information given to my father says she's inside."

"This was a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility Nyssa. I think it's time you told me exactly what we are doing here."

The strong tone of Sara's voice tells the assassin that her Canary won't be moving from the spot they were observing from, until she knew everything. Nyssa almost ignores it. What right does Sara Lance have to question her? Except… it's every right, the only right, Nyssa knows.

And she has yet to be able to deny her anything.

"My sister is inside."

"Talia? I thought she was in…"

"Not Talia."

The silence of the rocky desert is absolute. The only sound comes from their breaths and the distant echo of the running machinery from the warehouse they had their sights on.

"Oh."

Nyssa knows that Sara understands then. There was a night years ago, when they had been laying on the floor of the desert, just as they are now, and observing the distant shine of the far away stars. Except it was a different desert. And a different them. Happier them.

She had spoken then. Of the stolen sister. And of the screams and the blood of those who had taken her, once her father found them. Found _them_, but not the child. Not the baby Nyssa had seen only a handful of times before she was lost.

And now that sister was only minutes in front of them. Somewhere in the darkness of this building was a girl she hadn't seen for a very long time.

—  
_A half an hour later.__  
__Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility)_  
—

Skye wakes with a start.

Everything is still dark and she can hear nothing that might have spooked her, but some hidden instinct urges her to get up. Those instincts have kept her alive this far. She listens.

Once she enters the moderately illuminated hallway leading to the hanger The Bus is stationed in, the prickling sensation of hidden eyes on the back of her head strengthens. She feels her spine stiffening, but otherwise shows no outward reaction.

Her steps falter by Jemma's room however. She could go in, wake her, the odds against whatever this turns out to be would be better with two. But right now every bone in her body is telling her that Jemma is safer asleep in her own bed. And Skye would never forgive herself if something happened to her friend because of something Skye did.

She moves on, silently cursing the fact that she didn't head in the other direction from the start, May's room was that way, and if there's anyone who could handle this - whatever this is - it's Agent Melinda May.

No matter. Skye isn't helpless herself. She just needs to get to the guns Fitz keeps stocked away in the hanger bay.

She doesn't get that far.

One moment she is alone, the next there is a woman dressed in black in front of her. Her face is obscured by a veil over the lower half of the face. All she sees is the dark brown eyes staring at her with some kind of hidden emotion Skye couldn't begin to guess at.

She opens her mouth, to scream or to question, she's not sure, but it doesn't matter, because before she has time to blink she's against the wall with a blade by her throat. The threat is clear. No yelling for help.

She closes her mouth and glares.

The knife lingers for a moment longer, but then vanishes as quickly as it appeared.

The woman releases her and steps back. And waits.

"Who are you?"

Her voice is raw from the sleep and the fear, but she's proud when it doesn't shake.

"I am Nyssa. Daughter of Ra's al Ghul. Heir to the Demon."

Skye takes a moment to stare but then can't hold back the disbelieving laughter.

"Wow, you really enjoy being ominous don't you? What do you want with me Nyssa al Ghul et cetera et cetera?"

The woman's, Nyssa's, eyes flicker away and Skye sees the calm mask vanish for a second before returning as if it was never gone. And then the world as Skye knows it crumbles beneath her.

"I've come to take you home."

And those powerful eyes connect with Skye's as Nyssa removes the veil from her face. Now that she can see all of it, the eyes are even more striking. Striking… and familiar.

Skye has seen those eyes before. Every day. In the reflection of a mirror.

She's always dreamed her family would find her - and later that she would find them. Every orphan has that hope. But Skye never knew how she would react if it ever happened. And she doesn't know how to react now.


	2. The Kidnapped al Ghul

Disclaimer: I do not own rights to either Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Arrow. All rights and privileges go to some rich people in US. I'm just playing in the superhero sandbox.

AN: This was supposed to be finished, but I was talked into continuing. And instead of writing a sequel I thought this would make more sense. Of course, now this is no longer 'finished' and is now a 'work in progress', as if I don't already have enough of those.

*o0O0o*  
* **The Kidnapped al Ghul** *  
*o0O0o*

—-  
_A few seconds and an eternity later.  
__Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility)  
_—-

"I... you're..."

How are you supposed to react to seeing, for the first time in twenty two years, a member of your biological family? Especially when that person was just a minute ago holding a knife at your throat? Are you supposed to hug them? Smile at them? Punch them in the jaw? Turn around and run in the other direction as fast as legs will carry you?

Skye certainly doesn't know. Luckily for her she only has those few seconds to stand frozen in wide eyed surprise, before the situation changes and makes that decision for her.

Because May is suddenly there with them. Skye sees her kick at Nyssa's knees - her mother's? No, she looks to be in her thirties, too young to have birthed Skye - the woman slips sideways and grabs hold of May's arm while twisting around and using the momentum to attempt to dislocate her teammate's shoulder. But Skye sees May moving the other hand to hit her opponent in the chest - a sister then? Or a cousin? That works, but what is she _doing_ here? - the move lands, but Nyssa doesn't even flinch, she absorbs the punch like it's nothing and dances to the side.

After that Skye can't even follow the movements anymore, they're too fast. She should probably be impressed by the skill Nyssa shows, she's never seen someone face Melinda May and be an actual match to her before. And yes, she hasn't been learning martial arts long, she's barely a novice, but even she can see that this is a fight between two masters.

Finally shaking herself from the daze, Skye looks around for something to use as a weapon. There's a metal chair a few steps to her right. It might do the job.

Except then there's another unfamiliar form joining the fray - and how does everyone keep appearing out of practically nowhere? Someone needs to teach this to Skye. It looks handy - this time it's a masked woman in a blond wig with a staff in her hands.

The blonde only remains by Skye's side long enough to hit her outstretched hand with the weapon and to push her away. Skye's back and head connects with the wall and she hisses, it's more shock than pain, but the slam still stings and the floor seems to shift sideways. Not a good sign.

When she's able to look up again, the new woman has already reached May and Nyssa. And the fight is turning in the favor of the intruders, though May is still definitely holding her own.

As fuzzy around the edges as everything suddenly seems, Skye is the only one who sees the slowly opening doors from the hallway. The three fighters are too distracted with trying to hit each other to notice it as a pajama clad Jemma quietly slips from her room, with what looks to be one of Fitz's magnetic prototypes in hand.

Skye's eyes worriedly flicker towards the blur of almost choreographically flying limbs. But no one seems to be focusing on Jemma and she sighs in relief.

A short one, because Simmons draws the attention herself.

"Agent May!"

Suddenly time seems to slow and Skye sees, almost in slow motion, as May jumps back, as Jemma points her weapon at the intruders, as the masked woman steps in front of Nyssa, and as Jemma fires.

And as the third woman slumps, being carried down by whatever metals are on her person, her hand goes into her jacket pocket. A sound unlike any other bathes the room. Skye's hands clench around her head, trying to smother the mechanical scream waging war against her eardrums.

Right before Skye loses her conscious, she sees the fallen blonde waving in her direction and yelling something at Nyssa.

—-  
_An hour later.  
Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility)_  
—-

Jemma's reddened eyes haven't left the live feed of the unconscious woman from the holding room in fifteen minutes. She's going, for the third time, through the calculations of how long it will take for the tranquilizer May administered, after they could move again, to work off and for their prisoner to regain consciousness. The answer of - from five to ten minutes - hasn't changed, but the exercise distracts her from wondering about Skye.

"What do we know about this woman, May?"

Finally looking away, she turns towards Coulson. Jemma is interested in the answer too, so once she notices the concerned expression on Agent May's face, she focuses on her. When _The Cavalry_ begins looking worried, it's best to start panicking, but Jemma can't allow herself that luxury. Skye is depending on them to find her, there's no time for pointless fear. Unfortunately, her heartbeat doesn't seem to agree.

"She's from the League of Assassins. They both were. I recognize the style."

"But that's just a rumor... isn't it?"

Jemma can't help but interrupt. She's heard of it, The Hub is a treasure trove of such ghost stories after all, but that was supposed to be all they were. Fairytales. Not something that comes alive and takes one of the few truly important people in Jemma's life.

Coulson squeezes her shoulder, but doesn't answer. She supposed there's no point, it's hard to argue something doesn't exist when the proof is locked in their interrogation room, waiting to wake up.

"And what did they want with Skye?"

"I don't know Phil, but you need to see the footage. There's something... off about this."

Jemma takes the silent cue and brings up the events of the kidnapping on the central screen. They watch in silence as Skye enters the hallway from her room, watch as the darkly clad woman follows their teammate, and then they observe the swift confrontation in the hanger bay.

"See there? She had a knife at Skye's throat, she could have cut it and been gone in seconds. Instead she steps back as soon as Skye isn't acting like she's about to scream. This all plays like they wanted to talk to her. But the League doesn't take prisoners."

"Can you zoom in? I want to see what Skye's saying."

Jemma follows Coulson's order. Suddenly her friend's face takes up the whole screen, her heart clenches at the masked fear in it.

"Let's see. You enjoy being... ominous... what do you want with me... wait back up a bit here... uh... Nyssa algul... no... al gule?"

May interrupts him with a frighteningly low voice.

"Al Ghul?"

"Yes."

"Al Ghul is the name of the leader of the League. The woman who took Skye must be one of Ra's al Ghul's daughters."

Jemma's breath hitches. All those stories she's heard, they have one thing in common, the leader is a powerful and horrific man. And now he has Skye.

"A bit high profile isn't it? What would they want with her?"

But Jemma isn't looking at them anymore, her attention zooming in on the side screen where the handcuffed woman laying on the cot is slowly starting to move. The answer to all their questions is coming around. And she _is _going to talk. She knows Agent May will make sure of it. And if she doesn't, Jemma has a few tricks to herself as well.

—-  
_Same time.  
Starling City (new Arrow Cave)_  
—-

Felicity is installing new firewalls and tampering with one part of the code when her phone rings. She absentmindedly puts it on speaker.

"This is Felicity, if it's not important call back, I have a bug that needs-"

"This is Nyssa al Ghul. I need you to find me the phone number of Melinda May, formerly of S.H.I.E.L.D.."

Felicity's fingers pause their typing and she quickly switches the call to her earpiece. She's already worrying her lip between the teeth. An old nervous habit she's gotten back to after the Slade debacle.

"Is Sara okay? Does she need my help? I mean, I would think if she needed help she would be the one who would call us. Not that you can't call. You can... obviously. But we don't really know each other. Well, we do actually... know each other. You introduced yourself, in a very... intimidating way. And then I introduced me. But that wasn't really about _knowing_ each other. I just meant I know Sara better. Not the way you know Sara of course. You know Sara very well, and I have no interest in knowing her the way you do, I promise, really, I like Oliver... wait that's not... three... two... one. I'll look into it."

"Call me back when you have it."

The line cuts off and Felicity groans. She really needs to find a way to put a lid on her talking when she's feeling nervous. On the bright side, at least Oliver wasn't here to listen to this one. Of course on the dark side an assassin might now be under the impression that Felicity wants to steal her girlfriend, so it would probably have been better the other way around.

She shelves the morbid thoughts of the many ways Nyssa might kill her and enters 'Melinda May' into her search engine.

—-  
_Same time.  
Las Vegas (unknown warehouse)_  
—-

She drops the cell on the table. If this was any other situation Nyssa would be fighting a smile, Sara was right, Felicity is cute. But this isn't any other situation, and all she can think of is the way she left Sara on that floor, to run from there carrying in her arms an unconscious girl she doesn't really even know.

Sara was correct of course. Nyssa couldn't have carried both of them. And her former lover's favored device couldn't have held the others down long enough for her to come back. Still, if Sara hadn't somehow been fused to that floor, Nyssa would have chosen to take her instead.

But she's going to get her back. Her father's orders be damned, she's not going anywhere until Sara is within her sights again.

There's a sound behind her, urging Nyssa to turn around. The girl, Skye, seems to be awake. And staring at her with careful eyes.

"Who was that? And how do you know May?"

"No one. And she's had business with our... organization. I've heard of her."

"So you know she's going to find me. No matter where it is you plan to take me."

Nyssa sees the way Skye is blinking painfully at the light, she sighs and turns all of them, except the one furthest away from the corner where Skye is tied up in, off. Her... guest's stare becomes contemplative.

"Thanks."

"And I am not taking you anywhere yet."

Skye's eyes turn piercing, like she's trying to unravel Nyssa's every thought and intention. She can finally believe that this girl is her father's daughter, Ra's al Ghul wears that same expression when he's reading a person's loyalty. Nyssa can glimpse the intuition that has made the League so great in this twenty something girl. With power and a few more years behind her, Skye will become someone entirely unforgettable.

"The blonde woman. You want to get her back. You... care about her."

Nyssa doesn't bother to deny something with so much truth behind it, even if it is the biggest understatement Skye could have made.

*o0O0o*

AN2: Reviews _do_ make the heart grow fonder.


	3. The Irritating al Ghul

Disclaimer: Not mine. Neither Arrow nor Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., really really REALLY not mine (despite how many dreams I have about the opposite).

AN: Okay this chapter is... well it has a great deal of Nysara AND Skimmons, and I'm moving towards actual interactions between Nyssa and Skye too (it's extremely hard you know, turns out getting Nyssa to open up to Skye, or for Skye to trust Nyssa enough to start actual conversation is rather... complicated. They just won't budge. Stubborn sisters *glares*).

*o0O0o*  
***The Irritating al Ghul***  
*o0O0o*

—-  
Minutes later.  
Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility holding room)  
—-

Sara wakes up slowly, her mind groggy and slow, so it takes her a moment before she ascertains that she must have been drugged with something. But once it does, the memory of what happened comes back.

They broke into S.H.I.E.L.D. or what's left of it at least, to meet and - Sara's _not_ lying to herself about this - kidnap Nyssa's sister. Then of course everything went straight to hell, because the agents didn't seem to agree with the goals and surprisingly they had someone skilled enough to maybe take Nyssa down. After that… - Sara's brows furrow as she tries to recall the memory - after that a different woman pointed a gun at Nyssa, and in the milliseconds left to her, Sara stepped in the way.

Everything beyond that is a blur, though she vaguely pictures her hand going into the pocket of her jacket and herself yelling at Nyssa to take the girl they came for.

The girl, Sara had heard about only once before. They had been lying in the desert before a mission and watching the stars, Nyssa reclining against her chest as Sara held her arms around her and absentmindedly played with long dark hair.

She still remembers the way Nyssa's voice shook during the tale. Sara didn't need to ask whether or not the loss still hurt. The answer was as plain as the stars were bright during those hours alone in the middle of nowhere, where there was no light pollution to dim them.

They were so happy once. Sara wishes-

Sara's nails dig into the palms of her hands, as she tries to push the memories back, but thanks to whatever was given to her, Sara's mind doesn't quite comply. Instead she finds herself buried in the thousand moments she had left behind when she ran away.

Sara knows that her dad and Laurel and Ollie and his team have certain preconceptions about what those five years were like for her. They think she spent them in some kind of dark dungeon to be let out only to kill. That her life was made up of brutal and bloody training when it wasn't about killing.

And Sara can't say that the second part was incorrect exactly. But that's not _all_ of what her life was like. It's not even the most of it.

She didn't spend her every moment between missions trying to get a moment of rest, because she couldn't know when the next time she'd have enough time to sleep would be - that might have been what her life was like on Lian Yu and what Ollie's life continued to be after Sara was gone, but it wasn't what Sara's days were made up of in the mountains of The League of Assassins.

There were weeks, sometimes months, between when Ra's al Ghul gave them a name that was important enough to be dealt with directly by his daughter or her beloved. And yes, when he did give them that name, her hours went exactly like her family might imagine.

But when there was no names to cross off, Sara's life was… a life.

Days spent reading a good book at home or watching a fun new movie while snacking on popcorn. Hours spent on the couch bored out of her mind, but unable to summon up the will or energy to find something to do. Training with Nyssa and her other teachers - exhausting and sometimes painful? Yes. But also exhilarating. - Swimming in the ocean on sunny mornings. Shopping for whatever struck her fancy in the local market. Innumerable nights with Nyssa in the bed they shared. God, they even had a _cat_ - if you count a stray that somehow always showed up on the window sill in the mornings, staring at them eerily until either Sara or Nyssa threw a scrap of food, and then vanished until next time.

She was happy on Nanda Parbat.

It's off of it that was hell. Every time she saw Nyssa receiving a summons from her father, the veil of bliss would fall from her and Sara's heart would freeze in her chest, leaving her numb and so better able to follow the orders she swore to obey. It was the nights after their missions, when Sara would wake screaming in Nyssa's arms - dead eyes which haunted her dreams still looking at her from every shadowy corner of the room, - that she thought of leaving.

But she never did, because she couldn't abandon Nyssa like that. Sara loved her, loved her with everything in her, more than she'd ever loved anyone, more even than the boy she betrayed her sister with.

And if she hadn't learned of the earthquake Malcolm Merlyn caused, Sara might never have run. But she needed to make sure her family was safe. And once she was back in the city she grew up in, able to observe Laurel and her dad from the rooftops across the street from where they lived, - happy and at peace… and_ not safe_, not truly, not in the city they lived and with the jobs that they held - she could no longer go back, not even if her heart was breaking every moment she was apart from the woman who taught her both how to survive and how to love.

The one regret Sara will carry forever is how she never tried to return the favor and teach Nyssa freedom, the one area of life an Heir to the Demon could know nothing about.

She feels regret trying to drown her, so Sara's almost relieved when some panel in the cell she's being held in slides open and she's no longer forced to swim in her painful thoughts. Slowly Sara moves her legs over the edge of her cot and sits up, tries to ignore it as the chain cuffing her legs to the wall catches and doesn't allow her legs to reach the floor. Sara moves to sit in Lotus position instead, her hands - also with two chains leading to the wall behind her - lay in her lap. These people are either extremely careful or know who she's sworn her life and allegiance to, either way, it's not a good sign if she wants to find a path to escape.

On the other side of the circular room stands the woman who matched Nyssa al Ghul blow for blow. Her eyes pierce into Sara with an unforgiving power rarely seen in a person.

"I'm agent Melinda May, and you are going to tell me exactly what you wanted with Skye and where your friend has taken her. Do you understand me?"

Sara lets her eyes roam over the woman. The other body is tense like a coiled spring, but not in a way she can associate with fear or weakness, this woman is ruling over fury like she's done so for years, like this once she might actually allow it free reign. Sara doesn't have to leap to the conclusion that the girl they had come for is important to these people, that is plain as day.

It is also not a good sign. Sara knows Melinda May will do anything to find the girl Ra's al Ghul wants back. And destroy anyone in her way.

But Sara is loyal, not to the al Ghul she swore before maybe, but she will not betray Nyssa, not again, not in_ this_. She does not respond.

—-  
An hour later.  
Las Vegas (unknown warehouse)  
—-

Skye and Nyssa haven't talked with each other for almost an hour. Not to say they've sat in complete silence waiting for a fellow hacker - Skye's making an educated guess here - to call back. Nope. They haven't been sitting in anything_ close_ to a silence, Skye has been making damn sure of that, actually she's been acting as obnoxious as possible, trying to simultaneously test her captor's patience and shake out as much information as possible.

Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, it hasn't been working. Nyssa al Ghul seems to have the patience of some kind of saint, that or she's been meditating through Skye's passive aggressive methods of extracting information.

Which is a damn shame, because this has got to be some of her best work. Up to now, she's gone through three purposely off-key Christmas carols; thirteen questions - about half of which weren't immediately apparent as relevant, but in her personal opinion were in fact quite brilliantly worded and could have told her a lot, if the woman staring at her, unblinking from across the room, had bothered to so much as react - ; next was a hundred bottles of beer on the wall; she tried to start up a game of 'why' but got bored within a minute; moved on to explain in great mathematical detail how to break into military grade servers, but shut up about halfway through, because she suddenly had the feeling that Nyssa actually understood some of that and it would probably be considered treason to continue; spent a few minutes yawning loudly and right now she's been reduced to bellowing Queen while glaring moodily.

"WE WILL WE WILL **ROCK YOU**. WE WILL WE WILL **ROCK YOU**."

Skye has the nagging feeling she doesn't even need to ask the question that's been at the back of her mind since she realized she was, for the first time in her life, in front of someone who shares her blood. Sister. Almost definitely a sister.

Usually Skye would say it's beneath her to be the annoying brat, but under the circumstances, where she's been tied to a goddamn metal chair, - and she doesn't even want to know why it's been _screwed into the stone floor_ - by said relative for what she suspects is gonna be some sort of Bond-esque hostage exchange, she's giving herself a little leeway.

Plus… if she wasn't so angry it might have been kinda fun.

But Skye is angry, and worried about what Jemma and the team is going through, and a little scared. And… _of course_ her biological family is made up of assassins who finally contact her by holding a blade at her throat and kidnapping her, instead of being sane people and you know… sending her an email or something.

As if her life wasn't complicated enough already.

She's moved on to a fairly decent rendition of Village People when the phone in Nyssa's hands rings.

She hears her probably sister slash kidnapper mutter something Skye's almost sure is Arabic, she also thinks it sounds like a prayer of thanks.

So… not completely un-irritable after all. She smirks. Skye can work with that.

—-  
Same time.  
Starling City (new Arrow Cave)  
—-

"I found it." Felicity shouts in glee as soon as she hears her call connect and just as quickly backtracks, because that's not entirely true "Well, no. I couldn't find Melinda May's phone number. She seems to be just as paranoid about not being traceable as… well, all of us. But now that all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s records are open to the public I didn't have to dig that far to get around it. And for the last year she's been working in a team, I couldn't find much, the leader has been completely purged from all records, which is suspicious to say the least, but I'd need days to dig up more, they've been _extremely_ thorough, and you sounded like you're in a bit of a hurry. Anyway, I figured you don't actually need to contact _her_ per say, just someone who can get in touch with her right? So I found Jemma Simmons, she worked as a S.H.I.E.L.D. bio-chemist and I'm almost completely sure she's on the same team as agent May. Their records have been redacted for the same time periods. But she isn't as careful, I hacked into her parents' phone records and she calls them at least once a month. So if you want to contact Melinda May, you need to call her."

"Give me the number."

Felicity bites her lip again and hesitates. What she's dug up tells her these are good people, doing the same job Team Arrow is doing. And she's not sure if she's comfortable with exposing them to The League.

"You're not gonna… I mean, you're not-"

"They have Sara."

Oh… OH! Well that changes everything. Felicity's face hardens as she listens to the underlying growl in Nyssa's voice and isn't surprised to hear it in her own as she replies.

"I'll tell Oliver, we'll be there in…"

"You will not. You will tell me that number and I will deal with it myself."

That certainly raises her hackles. She's not good with being ordered around, not even by scary assassin ladies who can probably kill her with a hairpin. She didn't let herself be intimidated by a vengeance driven crazy person hopped on Mirakuru, and she's not going to let herself be intimidated by Nyssa al Ghul.

But she understands the wish to protect your own family, and as much as Sara became her family during those few months, she knows that it doesn't compete with years of being each others world the way she noticed was the case for Sara and Nyssa when she saw them as they all got ready to face Slade, so she allows a compromise.

"You have two days. If Sara isn't safe by then, I'm telling Oliver everything and if the situation changes for the worst in any way before then, then that deal's off too, and believe me, I_ am_ gonna know."

The silence on the other side of the line stretches and she doesn't need to be an oracle to know that Nyssa is glaring and possibly considering ways to go about the whole 'kill the hacker' scenario. Well tough luck, she's not budging.

"Fine. Now give me the number."

Felicity passes it on, and this time ends the call first… before spending a minute hyperventilating over exactly what she'd just done. She gave a threatening ultimatum to the most dangerous person she knows… well, the most dangerous person she knows, who _wouldn't_ have qualms about making her disappear into some abandoned warehouse never to be seen again. Why didn't she just throw Oliver out of that car again?

Oh right, he was bleeding all over her upholstery. And he _still_ owns her a bottle of sinfully expensive red wine. She really needs that wine right now, actually.

—-  
Five minutes later.  
Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, Skye's room)  
—-

All Jemma can think about is Skye's eyes while they had that silly staring contest. The way they shined in mirth and stubbornness, the way they finally reached her mouth too, Jemma hadn't been able to help it when her eyes instantly zeroed in on her lips instead of continuing the battle of wills.

She wishes she'd kissed her then. She _wanted_ to, so why didn't she?

Why did she let the stupid fear stop her from kissing the woman she's been falling for since she first saw that coy 'devil may care' smile? There had been so many opportunities. After Skye guided her through her awful flirting distraction with agent Sitwell. Following Jemma's touch with death after she jumped out of the BUS, when they were in each others arms, with Skye embracing her so tightly, Jemma wasn't sure her friend would ever let her go again. When Skye opened her eyes for the first time after being shot in the chest, she had practically already admitted what Skye meant to her to agent Triplett, and yet still she'd instead clenched Skye's hand and told her she would hug her as soon as the bullet wound healed. Opportunity after opportunity. And Jemma Simmons let every single one pass her by.

And now she might never see Skye again. She might never know exactly what happened to her. She might never know what would have changed for the better, if only Jemma was as brave with her heart, as she is with her life, and her career, and her science.

Rejection couldn't possibly hurt as much as this.

She wishes Fitz was here. After he woke up - she still finds herself thanking a god she doesn't exactly believe in for that, it had been like someone had cut off a limb while he was in a coma. Not completely the same feeling she carried around when all that kept Skye alive was a cryogenic tube just like that one, but… exactly as horrible in a different way - Jemma hadn't known how to tell him, that what he… that what he told her… how, she didn't know how to say the words, but she thinks Skye's name slipped in somewhere, because she knows she'll never forget the face he wore after. Jemma never wanted to hurt Fitz, she hadn't known she _could_, and knowing that she had, hurt her too.

So it was probably for the best that Fitz couldn't come back right away, that he needs intensive physical therapy before he can return to the BUS and all it's dangers and adventures. It's giving him time, giving them both time.

But right now Jemma wishes he was there, because she really needs a hug, she needs Fitz to tell her it would all turn out okay, that they'd get Skye back and everything would go back to how it's supposed to be.

She almost flinches when her phone rings. She shudders instead, and slowly, with tremors in her hand, picks it up and looks at the screen.

'Number Unknown'.

*o0O0o*

AN2: No, but really, leave me a review, it's one of those things that makes writing for 5 hours straight and remembering by DINNERTIME you haven't eaten LUNCH, actually worth it.


	4. The Silenced al Ghul

Disclaimer: Still not mine. Unlikely to change anytime soon.

AN: Not sure how happy I am with this, but... after reading it for the 100'th time it's as good as it's gonna get. And I do kinda like it. Plus Skye and Nyssa are finally bonding. Sort of. Yay.

*o0O0o*  
* **The Silenced al Ghul** *  
*o0O0o*

—-  
_Long seconds later._  
_Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, Skye's room)_  
—-

"Hello?"

Jemma's heartbeat is already rushing a mile a minute, some buried intuition screaming at her the identity of the person on the other end of the call. She needs to clench her jaw just to stop herself from screaming, to keep breathing through the tension of the stretching quiet and remain calm, remain professional, and distant, and not like someone whose heart has been stolen.

"Give me Melinda May."

The woman's voice giving the order has a faint Middle Eastern accent and a commanding tone. The blood beneath Jemma's skin starts to boil, she hasn't been this angry since Ward revealed his true allegiance... so not since the last time Skye was taken - she knows that being dropped from the plane and into the ocean with Fitz to either drown or asphyxiate came after, but then she had been too terrified to have time for anger.

But now, unlike then, she has someone towards whom to direct all that frightened fury.

"What have you done with Skye? If anything happens to her we're going to-"

"Be silent!"

The abrupt cut to her threat momentarily smothers her rage, there's a few heartbeats in which all she can hear is her own sharp breaths. But then the woman continues and the frost of it somehow translates through the microphone of the mobile, striking straight in the chest, there's a promise of pain and death in it.

"You are the one who shot my Habibti. If any harm has come to her then I promise you, every soul there will _wish_ for a mercy at the end of my blade. And I will not be merciful."

Despite herself, Jemma shivers. And scorns herself for that moment of weakness, because if Skye isn't all right, she doesn't really care what happens to her own life.

That might seem a tad bit dramatic, but she can't really argue the truth of it. Skye is important. To Jemma, certainly. Undeniably. But to the team too. Simmons might prefer biology over tech, but she certainly recognizes a linchpin when she falls in love with one.

"Now... Give. Me. Melinda. May."

Startled out of her musing she needs a moment to remember exactly who she's talking to and a moment more to resist smashing the phone into tiny bits of plastic and broken microchips, more than that, she wants to reach through the line and attack the person who took Skye. But she can't do either, this is the only connection they have to finding Skye and getting her back. And she will not lose that advantage in a moment of anger at the previously issued threat.

"Give me one minute."

Jemma jumps up and quicker than she herself expected runs out the door towards the holding room where Agent May is having a conversation with their own hostage.

—-  
_Same time._  
_Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility holding room)_  
—-

"What is your name?"

For the past hour Melinda has tried to extract answers from the woman whose partner has Skye. But despite her efforts the assassin has remained silent in the face of the interrogation.

Usually that would not be a problem, but the woman in front of her has excellent control over her facial tells. She has not moved, despite how uncomfortable the metal restraints keeping her in place must be. Nor has she looked away, or started to sweat at the temperature which has been turned a few, but significant degrees up. Despite the thirst May knows is a side effect of the drug she administered, the woman has also not asked for the water that's been laid on the table out of her chained reach.

The only thing Melinda knows for certain, is that the woman has been through this before.

"What does The League of Assassins want with Skye?"

The lack of new intel is steadily diminishing her already wavering patience, if the League member doesn't start talking soon May will be forced to resort to less ethical methods of extracting information.

"Where did Nyssa al Ghul take her?"

Still, something does not make sense to her. In truth, several things make very little sense. What would Ra's al Ghul want with Skye? What makes her so important that he would send one of his daughters for the job? Why did he want their team mate taken alive? And why has their prisoner not yet attempted suicide? Melinda knows the rules the League is governed by, and its members do not let themselves be taken alive, certainly not by people who have a chance of keeping them contained. And yet, the woman has taken no steps to end her life, nor has she attempted to goad May into doing it for her.

Nothing about this adds up. And the person holding the answers is remaining silent.

"What were Ra's al Ghul's orders?"

She does not want to resort to torture, especially the kind that will be required for someone who has been trained to resist it. But Skye is part of her team, she's family, and for family Melinda will let the darkness she's been carefully keeping controlled loose, even if it swallows what's left of her whole.

"What were the initial goals of the break in?"

Before Melinda has time to search for any kind of clue in the face of their prisoner, - or to ask yet another question, or to change her tactics to ones far more ruthless and more likely to give her any sort of real answer, - there comes a pounding to the closed door of the interrogation room. It sounds like someone is beating against it with the palm of their hand.

"May! Open the door. It's important."

The muffled voice of Simmons reaches her and Melinda at once pushes back her chair to stand up and head for the door. In mere moments she waves her identity card over the sensors of the holding room and exits into the hallway. Jemma Simmons would not interrupt her without a very urgent reason.

But before she has time to ask for it the frantic looking scientist pushes a phone into her hand and explains the situation.

"It's the woman who took Skye. She said she wants to talk to you."

Melinda feels eyes on the back of her head and as she's placing the cell to her ear she turns around, connects her eyes with their prisoner's and closes the door in the mystery woman's face.

She's about to start talking when her training catches up with her first instinct and she pulls the phone back to push 'mute'.

"You know how to trace a call?"

Simmons looks like she wants to smack herself in the face for not thinking of that herself. And once she replies, like someone had _already _hit her in the stomach.

"Skye taught me."

"Then go do it. I will keep talking as long as is needed."

Simmons is already turning away when some sentiment makes Melinda stop her with a hand on her shoulder. Maybe it's the lost expression Simmons carries that May's starting to notice is unique to every occasion in which Skye has been missing or in danger, maybe just because she needs that reassurance almost as much.

"Wait, Jemma. Skye's going to be fine. You know she's much stronger than people give her credit for, it's what has kept her alive this long, it's what's going to keep her alive now. And we are going to find her. It's going to be alright."

Simmons looks as if she's fighting back tears but she wanly smiles and nods, and as soon as Melinda takes away her hand she's running toward the control room to trace the call that will hopefully lead them right to Skye.

And then Melinda turns back the sound and with far more calm than she's feeling, speaks.

"Yes?"

—-  
_Same time._  
_Las Vegas (unknown warehouse)_  
—-

Nyssa knows she's being stalled. The team of former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents undoubtedly has various ways to track her number to this warehouse and every one of them is being used right then. It does not worry her.

When finally the voice she's been expecting speaks, Nyssa coolly smiles.

"Agent Melinda May. How fortuitous we finally have a chance to talk, how is you shoulder? I hope I did not dislocate it too badly."

"It's fine. How's your ribs?"

The dull ache at the back of her mind flares sharply but she does not allow it to distract her from the goal. She is not leaving the city until Sara's beside her and safe.

"Perfectly intact. Thank you. Now, I'm sure there's something we want to talk about, so let's not... stall, shall we?"

"Fine. I want to speak with Skye."

Nyssa's eyes slide sideways to the chair where her sister is glaring daggers at her with her mouth taped shut. Nyssa is willing to deal with much, but Disney's 'Let It Go' will never be one of those things.

"Maybe after you've let me speak to Ta-er al-Asfer."

"Maybe after you've let me speak to Skye," the voice of the woman darkly retorts.

"You know, agent May? I think we've met once before, briefly."

"No, I think I'd remember."

Nyssa can't help but smirk at the dry remark. Under very different circumstances she would like to exchange a few drinks with the woman so famously knows as The Cavalry in certain circles. But in this case, any fascination is shelved and replaced with calculation.

"Yes. You had returned from a mission your S.H.I.E.L.D. bosses and my father had cooperated on. I was in the room when my sister spoke of how you saved her life. I am grateful of course."

For a moment there is a tense silence and Nyssa's smile widens. Her guess was correct, Melinda May did not want to speak of it, especially on a call that was undoubtedly being recorded by her team.

"How about we stop with the pleasantries and move to the real reason we are speaking right now. We want our agent back. And you obviously wish to leave with your partner. An exchange can be arranged."

And here is where things always get complicated. This is why The League doesn't deal in hostage situations. There are no conversations, no negotiations. They move through the shadows as ghosts and kill their targets just to vanish again in moments. They follow the orders Ra's al Ghul gives, and nothing else.

But Sara's capture gives no choice but to improvise. The sun will be up in a little under an hour and she would never make such an exchange during the day, agent May would know that.

"A meeting an hour after midnight tonight, ten miles west of your location. No backup, just us and them."

"Fine. But I can't agree to anything until I've talked to Skye and know that she's alive and unhurt."

Nyssa's eyes again turn towards her sister. Skye is still glaring at her, but she also looks extremely interested in Nyssa's half of the conversation.

"First I speak to Ta-er al-Asfer. To make sure _she _is safe and _unhurt_." The last word comes out in a hiss. If Sara has been harmed Nyssa knows she will not leave survivors, for now she might be willing to go home without casualties, for the sake of Sara and maybe even Skye, but if Sara has been harmed there will be no mercy, no forgiveness. "And before you argue, remember that it is not The League who does not keep their promises. If I speak with my partner, you will speak with yours. That I _do _swear on my honor as the Heir to the Demon."

There is a moment of silence as the woman considers it. There is a sound like a door sliding open and then the slight click signaling the pressing of speakerphone, moments later a new voice strikes Nyssa's heart and her knees almost weaken at the relief it brings.

"Nyssa?"

Sara's voice is somewhat scratchy, but there is no pain in it, Nyssa would hear it if Sara was trying to hide the aftermath of torture form her, but the worst of what comes through is a sore throat. They will live.

Still she needs to make certain, so she switches to Arabic and asks.

_"Have they hurt you?"_

_"No. I'm okay, I promise. Do not worry and do not kill them."_

Sara knows her too well. That strange familiarity has always been there, it's why Nyssa chose to save her all those years ago, it's why she fell in love once they got to know each other in truth, it's why she was so destroyed when she returned home from a mission last year and Sara was gone.

_"If they let you go I won't need to." _

She can hear Sara's exasperation across the line even through the silence. She has always known Sara too.

"Alright agent May I will-"

_"Wait Nyssa... I lied."_

_"What are you-"_

_"I never stopped. I still do."_

Suddenly tears are threatening to slip past her eyes. She has wanted to hear Sara say this since being met with her silence at the - 'But not anymore.' – that has been haunting her since hearing the past tense. The smile that comes is more painful than it should be, but if Sara's telling this to her now it's because she's not sure if she'll be able to later, and that is unacceptable.

_"And I never released you." _She breathes in deeply and turns back to the task at hand. "You may talk to Skye now."

This time it's Nyssa who turns on speakerphone as she twists around and locks her eyes with the silenced girl. There is sympathy in her sister's eyes, like she understood the emotion behind Nyssa's conversation even if she didn't understand the words. In turn Nyssa almost feels bad for now needing to remove the tape from her mouth. She pulls it off in one quick motion to lessen the pain of it.

"OW."

"Tape?" there's a rueful quality to agent May's tone, like she can guess the reason for its application.

"Yup!"

Nyssa almost rolls her eyes at the proud sound in that one word and wonders if Melinda May actually does so.

"Did she hurt you?"

"No, everything's great. We're getting along _great_. I mean I always wanted to bond with my-"

Nyssa ends the call abruptly with a glare of her own.

"What? Worth a shot."

This time she does roll her eyes. She can feel a headache coming on. Skye is turning out to be twice as aggravating a Talia, and just a few days ago she would have sworn that this was completely impossible.

She shakes her head and goes toward the laptop, turning it off before removing the chip from the cellphone and smashing it with the heel of her boot. Then she removes a few packs of C4 from the cupboard beside the table and starts constructing the most basic of booby-traps.

"You're not waiting for nightfall are you?"

"No."

"And you're not actually going to exchange me for the woman you're in love with."

Her hand trembles for a moment before she continues with her task.

"No. Your team should be here in forty five minutes."

"But we won't be here by then." Skye guesses again.

Nyssa doesn't answer this time.

Tracking a phone call for an organization such as S.H.I.E.L.D. would not have been hard, not even an encrypted one, not even if the organization itself is in shambles at the moment. But that was never a worry.

The only true obstacle to saving Sara is Melinda May, and Melinda May will be busy here.

"I though you said your League kept their promises."

"We do. We keep our word. And as the daughter of Ra's al Ghul I let her talk to you. But as Nyssa there is nothing I will not do when Sara's life or freedom are at stake."

Once Skye finally continues there is a hesitance and vulnerability in her voice.

"And as my sister?"

Here Nyssa stops and fully turns to face her. She's sure part of that vulnerability is played up to manipulate her, that is after all what Nyssa would do, but underneath that there is a hint of truth in Skye's question. The girl is nothing like she expected, though she's not actually certain what it is that she _had_ thought to find. But what she sees now is bravery and defiance and… pain, loneliness. She feels herself softening.

"As your sister, I will not let anyone take you away again."

And that is the truth. Not because of her father's orders. Not because losing Skye would be a stain on her honor.

Nyssa won't let anyone take her away because Skye is the sister that was lost to her when Nyssa herself was a child. And even if she doesn't really know Skye, they are bound by blood.

And in her world, blood, sharing it or shedding it for one another, means everything.

—-  
_Two minutes later._  
_Mojave Desert (inside S.H.I.E.L.D. facility control room)_  
—-

"The call came from Las Vegas warehouse district."

"So we have them?"

Trip asks. He had been off premises trying to take advantage of the first real time off since joining the team when Skye was kidnapped, but Coulson called him as soon as it happened. Now he thinks it might have been better if he was still in the city.

"Yes."

"I'll get ready then."

"No." May interrupts stepping into the room. "Me and Coulson are going, so I'll need you here to look after the prisoner."

"But we have her locked safely."

"What we have is The Canary."

The information vaguely raises a red flag. He can't place it, but he's definitely heard the name before.

"Habibti!"

Jemma's exclamation diverts both their attention to her. She's looking at them with an exhausted, worried frown.

"That's what she called her. When she spoke to me. Habibti."

He and agent May exchange a look and now he definitely remembers the identity of the woman in their holding room. During the last few years whispers about her had been going around through the spy community, the League was almost a legend, but for those who knew it actually existed there were some ghost stories about a small number of members. The Canary was one of the few, and the newest. What kind of trouble had Skye fallen into?

"The Beloved. This is a problem."

*o0O0o*

AN2: Being told what you thought of this, ALWAYS appreciated. And look, May didn't hurt Sara. Though I'm sure she would have, eventually, if Nyssa hadn't called. Now they have more pressing matters.


End file.
